Maybe We Should Believe Trans Kids Instead of the Assholes Who Hate Them

Bari Weiss' blog is back with more lies, hatred, and the weaponization of a few choice adults in service of harming trans youth.

Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

It’s an absolutely terrifying time for trans rights in the United States. The far-right anti-LGBTQ+ movement continues to manifest all over the country in the form of countless pieces of anti-trans legislation, the infuriating policing of drag shows, actual, sickening violence, and more. But it’s also taking form in subtler ways (hello to the ongoing success of proud TERF J.K. Rowling). Most notably, it’s become embedded in media coverage—something we’ve written about many times before—in a way that has become so pervasive and insidious, it’s actively scary.  

Former New York Times columnist and current societal scourge Bari Weiss is becoming one of the foremost peddlers of this genre of rancid faux-journalism. We’ve chronicled Weiss’ dedication to publishing nonsense about trans healthcare for kids on her “website,” the Free Press, before, and we would have liked to be done with her, but unfortunately for us and for humanity at large, Weiss can’t seem to quit. Her blog is now caught up in another journalistic fiasco about—you guessed it—trans healthcare for kids, only this time she’s been assisted in her malfeasance by the parent of a trans child.

All of this raises an important question: is it, maybe, just possible that we should start trusting what trans youth are telling us, rather than their asshole parents or the transphobic journalists who are determined to distort their lives?

The timeline here is a little complicated, so let’s get into it.